Hi readers,
For those of you who don't know I'm a massive Minecraft fan. So, when I saw that a fiction novel set in the Minecraft world was coming out, I knew I had to read it! It was expecting a fantasy style story but instead The Island is half an introduction/guide on playing the game and half a person's experience of playing the game for the first time. I'm feeling torn about liking it and disappointed that it wasn't what I was hoping for.
The book is aimed at children and written in a simple way which could mean that older teens and adults might lose interest. I liked the easy style though because the previous book I read was long and heavy (that review coming soon!) There wasn't much of a plot though, it basically was; man wakes up on Island, has to survive, learns lots of lessons then decides to leave the Island to discover more about himself.
The way it comes across though is good, with the man realising how things are different in the Minecraft world and what he needs to do to 'instantly' make things. I also liked how he made friends with the animals, since there was no one else; a cow called Moo, three sheep called Flint, Cloud and Rainy and some chickens. However, when he's translating the mooing of the cow into conversation it did start to bug me. Kids might find that funny though. The fighting scenes were well described and good too and I enjoyed reading about the battles with the zombies, skeletons and creepers, which for any Minecraft players out there you'll get on board with.
This book feels like the wisdom of life a way which was something that came to me about 50 pages in when I realised how full the pages were getting with like cliche positive quotes; 'Take life in steps,' 'keep going, never give up,' 'books make the world bigger,' even though these are applied to events that happened with the Minecraft world, they can easily be applied to things in the real world. Which then makes me wonder if that's what Minecraft is a metaphor for? Anyway, I can see these positive messages being good for kids.
Towards the end of the book, the details of crafting and guide like style do move over for a bit more plot which allows the main character to grow and realise what he must do. I like when he finds the abandoned mine and meets and Enderman! They've always been the scariest monsters for me. He manages to overcome all the problems that face him in the mine, even using some techniques I didn't know about! Afterwards, he reflects he was just using the exploring and fighting as an excuse to put off the one thing he needed to do. So, he leaves the Island to try and figure out even more. The book ends with him saying he's leaving it behind as a guide for the next person.
Overall, I like this book for what it actually is; a novelized guide to playing Minecraft from a player's point of view but I'm still disappointed because I feel it could have been a lot more. Like the Minecraft Story Mode games which I'm slowly getting into. Will there be any more Fiction Minecraft novels? I don't know but it would be interested to read someone else take on the Minecraft world.
Thanks for reading and see you next time.
Please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ where I write a short story everyday.
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